Improvement in cultivators



J. SHANNON. Seed Plan ter.

No. 29.626. Patented Aug. 14. 1860.

UNITED STATES PATENT a OFFICE.

JACKSON SHANNON, OF DAKOTA, VVISOONSIN.

lM PROVEM ENT IN CULTIVATO RS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 29,626, dated August14, 1860.

lowing is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, referencebeing had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification,in which- Figure l is a side sectional view of my invention, taken inthe line a: 00, Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a plan or top view of the same; Fig. 3,asection of the same, showing the manner in which the shares areattached to the frame; Fig. 4, a detached plan of one of theweed-cutters.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

The object of this invention is to obtain an implement which may be usedas a seedingmachine to plant seed either in hills or drills,

and also used as an expanding-cultivator, the

implement operating in either capacity equally as well as if it weredesigned especially for each. a

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention, Iwill proceed to describe it.

A represents the frame of the machine, which is formed of two bars, a a,connected at their front ends by pivots or bolts I) b to a metal plate,a, which is attached to a draft-bar, B.

O G are two traverse bars, the ends of which are secured to the bars a aby screws d, which pass through oblong slots in the bars 0 and into thebars a, the oblong slots admitting of the bars a being expanded orcontractedthat is to say, adjusted nearer togetherorfarther apart, asmay be desired-the bars a a having an oblique position relatively witheach other, as shown in Fig. 2.

D is the drivers seat, which is placed on two cross-plan ks, E E,andsecured thereto by screwholts d d, which pass through longitudinal slotse e at the inner parts of the planks. (See Fig. 2.) The outer ends ofthe planks are attached to the supports a on the bars a a. Thisarrangement of the seat and plank E admits 0f the seat being placed atthe center of the .frame A without interfering with the expandin g andcontracting of the same.

To each bar a a handle, F, is attached, and

the back part of each bar a is provided with a bearing, in which a shaftor axle, G, is placed, the bearings being allowedto move on the axle toadmit of the expanding movement of the bars.

0n the axle G two rollers, H H, are placed side by side. The rollers areofdouble conical form, as shown clearly in Fig. 2, and they are placedloosely thereon, so that they may turn on the axle, the latter beingstationary. The bars a are provided with teeth I, similar toharrowteeth, said teeth being at suitable distances apart. There arealso attached to the bars a double mold-board shares J J, one to eachbar. Covering-shares K K and weed-cutters L may also be attached to theback parts of the bars a when required, and a double weed-cutter, M, asshown in Fig. 4, may be attached to the draft-bar B when required. Whenthese articles are not needed, other shares or teeth may be substituted.A double mold-board share, J, for instance, as shown in Fig. 1, may beemployed in place of M.

At the front part of the frame A there is placed an axle, N, having awheel, 0, upon it, which supports the front part of the frame A. Thisaxle N has a bevel-tooth wheel, P, on it, which wheel gears into abevel-pinion, Q, on the lower end of a shaft, R, which shaft has avertical position on the frame A. Y The wheel 1? is fitted loosely onthe axle N, and is moved in and out of gear with a clutch on said axle,so as to be connected or disconnected from it by means of a lever, T.

On the frame A there is placed a box, U, which is of curved formed, asshown clearlyin Fig. 2, and is divided into threecompartments, a Z) c",by partition-plates fg. The platef extends transversely across the box Uand forms the seed-compartment a", and the plate 9 divides the otherpart of the box longitudinally into two compartments, b c".

The partition-plate f has a hole, h, made through its lower part, andthis hole may be contracted as desired by means of a slide, t, which isfitted to one side of the platef. The end of the box U, which forms theboundary of the part divided by the plate 9, has a slide, j, attached towhich aseries of cut-off brushes, j, are secured. The slide j is groovedvertically, as also is the slide 6, and the partitionplate g may beadjusted in either of the grooves,

so as to regulate the size of the compartments b 0* as may be required.This will be fully understood by referring to Fig. 2.

On the shaft B there is placed a horizontal disk-wheel, V. This wheel isdirectly under the box U, and it forms the bottom of about one halfofthe compartments I) c". The bottom of the other part of the compartmentsb c" is formed of an inclined plane, it, as shown in Fig. 2. The wheel Vis pierced with holes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, which are shown in Fig. 2,and to a suitable cross-piece, W, of the frame A there are five tubes,X, attached, the upper ends of which are in the paths of rotation of theholes in the wheel.

The operation of the machine is as follows: If the implement is to beused for planting seed-corn,forinstauccinhillsorcheck-rows, thepartition-plate g is so adjusted as to bring the holes 1 2 3 4 5 withinthe compartment 0", and the corn is allowed to escape from thecompartment a down the inclined bottom plate, It, into theholes, whichhave three of their sides inclined to facilitate the passage of the seedinto them and prevent them 'from choking. These holes are seed-cells,and the wheel V works over a cross-plate,Y, and board W, which retainthe seedin the holes until the holes pass over the orifices of the tubesX, which project through the plate Y.

It will be seen that theholes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are quite close to eachother and consequently, at every revolution of the wheelV, when saidholes pass in line or register with the orifices of the tubes X, fiveseeds will be dropped simultaneously and quite close together, formingahill.

The parts are arranged as above described when planting in hills and incheck-rows. In planting in drills the holes 6 and 5 remain open, theothers being closed. The cut-ofl' brushesj perform their usualfunctionviz., scraping the surplus seed from the tops of the holes. Byusing the partition 9 two kinds of seed may be planted at the same time.The front share, J, forms afurrow to receive the seed, the shares Kcover the seed, and the rollers H H leave a furrow each side of thehills or drills, forming water-passages to allow the water to escape andprevent the rotting of the seed.

The distribution of seed may be stopped at any time by adjusting lever Tso as to throw the wheel P out of gear with the pinion Q.

When the implement is to be used as a cultivator the box U is detached.Any form ofshares or teeth may be attached to the bars a. a of the frameA, and they may be attached to said bars a by means ofscrewrod standards4:, provided with jam-nuts m.

The lever T may be retained, so as to keep the wheel P in gear with thepinion Q, by fitting it in a notch, 12, in the bar 0, as shown clearlyin Fig. 2.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-- The traverse-bars G G, attached to thebars a a, as shown, and used in connection with the planks E E and seatD, and the axle G, on which the bars a are fitted loosely, substantiallyas audfor the purpose set forth.

JACKSON SHANNON. Witnesses:

O. R. MOULTON, THOMAS CLAY.

